Tag Archives: Redistricting commission

Frustrated by a judge’s ruling that state and county prosecutors don’t have the authority to investigate alleged open meeting law violations by the state’s redistricting commission, Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery predicted today that private citizens may pick up where he left off.

A Maricopa County Superior Court judge has dealt the Independent Redistricting Commission a sweeping victory by declaring that the agency is not bound by state open meeting laws or subject to investigations into the contested hiring of a mapping consultant.

The partisan legislative maneuvering over Arizona’s redistricting process may be over for now, but the arguments lived on as Republican and Democratic leaders spent more than two hours on Wednesday making their cases to the remapping commission.

The independent panel tasked with drawing new political lines that the state will use for the next decade is expecting to wrap up its work in the next few weeks, despite opposition from many of the Republicans that control state government.

At yesterday’s IRC meeting, Voting Rights Act consultant Bruce Adelson repeatedly emphasized that DOJ likes to see a lot of debate and discussion about Voting Rights Act districts when contemplating preclearance for new maps.

Arizona's redistricting commission is trying to line up briefings by state legislators for next week to hear their views on proposed draft legislative and congressional maps now being retooled by the commission.

Despite that minimal sign of reconciliation, Stertz told our reporter this morning that he doesn’t trust Mathis. When asked if he trusted the chair, he paused a moment before answering: “No. I’m waiting for actions. Actions speak louder than words.”